Billiard-cue.



No. 672,646. Pate nted Apr. 23, l90l. H. E. MERENESS, In.

BILLIARD CUE.

(Application filed Oct. 24, 1900.)

(No Model.)

WI /"l" STATES HARRY E. MERENESS, JR,

OF ALBANY, NEXV YORK.

BlLLlARD-CU E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672.646, dated April23, 1901.

Application filed October 24, 1900. Serial No- 34,1l7. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, HARRY E. MnannnssJr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Billiard-Ones, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to billiard-cues; and one object of my invention isto provide a billiard-cue composed of a series of triangular strips ofhard wood, in which the denser layers of wood, alternating with porousportions thereof, may be so disposed in reference to the exteriorsurfaces of the outer side of the respective strips that said denserlayers may in their extension in cross-direction run from the surface ofone of the inner sides to the surface of the opposite inner side andrelatively parallel to the exterior surface of the strip and parallelwith each of the other layers in the same strip; also, to so taper eachof the several strips in the series in the billiardcue that the laps ofthe denser wood, alternating with the porous portion, mayin crossdirection extend from the surface of one of the inner sides to that ofthe opposite and in longitudinal direction run in lines parallel to eachother and with the line .of outer surface of the exterior side of thestrip,while the line of longitudinal extension of the inner corner ofeach strip will run relatively tapering in relation to the line ofdirection of length of the layers of denser wood and that of the outerside of the strip, and, further, to provide a billiard-cue which tapersfrom its handle end to its top and is composed of a series of triangularstrips of wood united together by cement in such a manner that the innercorner of each strip will abut the adjoining inner corners of the otherstrips and be coincident with the 'axial line of the cue, and the denserlayers of wood, alternating with the porous wood in each strip, may bein their cross-direction relatively in lines at right angles to a linedrawn from the point of inner corner of each strip to a point midway inthe width of the exterior side of the strip, thereby in cross-directionof the finished cue dispose the layers of denser wood, alternating withthe porous portion of the same, in form of a series of concentrichexagonal figures from its center to circumference, so that the severalsaid denser-wood layers of each strip may operate to brace those of theadjoining strips, and thereby uniformly stiifen the one in alldirections transverse to its length.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully understoodfrom the following description and claim, when taken in connection withthe annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of abilliardcue embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectiontaken at line 1 in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a section taken at line 2 in Fig.2. Fig. 4 is a section taken at line 3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is alongitudinal section, on enlarged scale, of the handle-end portion,taken at line 4, Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a section taken at line 5 in Fig. 5.Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of the tip-end portion of the cue. Fig.8 is a section taken at line 6 in Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a perspective viewof a triangular strip before being combined with the others in a cue.Fig. 10 is a view of a cue embodying my invention and with strips ofdark and light colored woods alternating. Fig. 11 is a section of thesame.

Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

Fishing-rods have been constructed of split bamboo, well known to be thehollow stem of a species of grass, comprising a series of comparativelyshort lengths of natural tubes and knots between, and is porous instructure, of grain elastic, light in weight, and strong to aconsiderable degree when its exterior hard enamel-like outer portion ofsubstance is left undisturbed; but when that enamel-like outer substanceis removed, either in whole or part, the bamboo becomes weak and readilysplits under sudden endwise blows from hard substances. Theseabove-rnentioned qualities, together with the insufficiency of thicknessof the substance of the walls of their short lengths of natural tubes,and the occurrence of the knots between, which necessitates such areduction of the thickness of the bamboo, in some portions of itslength, as to require all the hard enamel-like substance to be whollyremoved, and also that for use in producing billiard-cues of suitablelength and diameter, and a degree of taper on true straight lines fromhandle to top, as is not natural in bamboo, the substance of the severaltriangular strips of bamboo requires such a greater degree of dressingdown of some portions of their length than other portions as to causethis bamboo substance to be wholly unfit for use in the structure ofbi*l-liard-c11es,,in which are essential the quality of reasonableWeight (for being well balanced for proper handling) and the element ofstiffness, so as not to be liable to spring under shocks from heavysudden blows received on its tip end, and also the element of strongcohesion of the substance of the one at its tip, so as not to readilysplinter when delivering blows to balls.

Golf-sticks, which are required to possess the element of pliability,have been made of triangular-form strips, having the grain of eachsodisposed in relation to the grain of the adjoining other strips as torender the stick more or less pliable, as may be best suited to theplayer or preferred by him, and be at the same time light in weight, andyet sufficiently stilt and strong for giving the stick that resiliencyessential to enable the player to drive a ball the greater distance withless exercise of strength than is required by sticks deficient inpliability.

I have discovered that in billiard-cues of best quality for deliveringto a billiard-ball a blow from any line of direction o-rangle with greataccuracy it is essential that the axial line of the cue from its handleto its top should always be absolutely straight and that its tapershould be uniformly in true lines in the entire length of itscircumference and the substance of the cue about its axial line shouldat all times be in true balance and that, as a shaft, which is liable toreceive sudden impacts endwise on its tip from force of resistance of aball from different directions or lines of angles of strokes, it shouldhave the element of stidness, so as to prevent the cue from buckling orspringing. For producing in billiard-cues these above-mentionedessential elements I have devised a one of novel construction, in whichare employed strips of arrangement of the laps or layers of'd'cnserportions in the same, as will be hereinafter described, and ofequilateral triangular form in' their cross-direction and having theiropposite sides a and 0t tapering on straight lines and also having thelines of their inner corners a and exterior surface ai'running instraight tapering lines from end to end and secured together by strongwaterproof cement; These strips A may be made from any suitablewell-seasoned straight-grained hard wood, as ash, hickory, beech, hardmaple, or other wood, which have their laps or layers of denser wood,alternating with porous portions,of thickness varyingfrom one-eighthofan inch, more or less, as is found in the above-mentioned woods. Thesestrips A are of length equal to that of the cue to be produced and arein their cross-direction of equilateral triangular form and similar inarea at both their handle and.tip ends, as shown in Figs; 6 and 8. Inthese triangular-form strips a and a are the inner sides, whichrespectively abut similar sides of the adjoining strips when combinedand cemented together, as in Figs. 2, 6, 8, and 11. a in each strip isthe-inner corner of the'same, which corners are coincident with theaxial line of the finished said strips. The grain of wood of thesestrips A is so disposed in a section of each strip that the layers ofdenser wood in the grain an'd'the porous portions of the latter, which 1naturally alternate with said denser laps, shall in theircross-direction of width extend from side a to side a in each strip inlines about at rightangl'es to a line, as line w, Figs. 6 and-9, drawnfrom the corner'a thereof'outward to and through a point, as 2, locatedmidway in the width of the exterior side a? of the strip, as shown insaid figures, whereby the lines of said laps of dense wood in theircross-section, as from side, a to side a, may be parallel to that oftheexterior surface a and also to that of theother lapsin thesame strip, asshown in Fig. 6. By this relative arrangement and disposition of thesedense- Wood laps in the triangular strips A the latter are made to bestifi under strains applied transverse to the lines ofthe edges oft-hesaid laps and also. under strains applied endwise under force of suddenconcussions, while these same strips would 'be' most pliable understrains transverse to the lines of the flats of said laps and ca use thestrip to spring only in direction of the sides of the flats of laps, aswould also be the case when strains are applied under force of endwiseconcussion. Besides making each of these equilateral triangular stripsin the cue to have the like lrelativel'y-arranged laps c c of densewood, as above described, I combine and cement ljthese strips together,so that the outer edges of the dense-wood laps in each strip A" mayfabout coincide with and abut the edges of the similar laps in theadjoining strips A, and :f thereby cause the stick so produced to com-;lbine what are, in effect, a se'ries'of unbroken 2 concentric hexagonaltubes of hardwood laps, which alternate with what, in effect, areconcentric hexagonal natnral fillings of porous and'weaker substance,whilethe dense-Wood laps c c in each strip of each pair of antipodalstrips will be parallel in rel-ation to those of the other and angularin relation to those in adjoining strips belonging to the other twopairs of antipodal stripsin the cue. By means dense-wood laps c c ineach pair of antipodal triangular strips in'thecue, and then relativeangles to the similar laps c c in the ad- 1 joining strips, also inantipodal pairs, I give 5 to the cue the maximum of stiffness which aistick of Woodean receive by use only of its 1 own substance, but whichcannot be had from combined triangular strips of bamboo as have beenemployed in both single and double pieces or layers in fishing-rods forgiving to cue, and a a are the exterior sides of the' of this relativeplacement of the series of them both uniformity of pliability and asufficiency of strength to prevent their breaking down under pullingstrains applied to their tip ends; nor can this maximum of stiffness beobtained by use of triangular strips of hard wood as are employed ingolf-sticks, in which absolute stiffness is .a defective element andpliability is a necessary quality for best sticks, which will preventstinging the hand and enable the player to deliver best driving-blows tothe ball with case, which pliability in these golf-sticks was obtainedby causing the grain in each triangular strip to be so disposed inreference to the grain of the adjacent similar strips as to give to thefinished stick a preferred degree of pliability.

The triangular strips A may have their sides a and a dressed smoothly byany preferred means, so as to give to each triangular strip a taperingform both in width from side a to side a and in the transverse frominterior corner 0, to exterior side a as shown in Fig. 5, so that thistaper last mentioned may have the exterior dense lap in each stripparallel to the line of the exterior surface of the exterior side aWhile the line of the interior corner a shall be the line of taperrunning relatively oblique to the dense-wood laps c, as shown in saidFig. 5. With this construction the cue produced will not only be made tohave the maximum of stiffness necessary in the best cue-stick withperfect balance of all cut-colored Woodsas, say, White-ash and beech orother contrasting-colored wood, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11--anornamental billiard-cue will be produced.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

In a billiard-cue, the combination of a series of equilateral triangularstrips which taper in their length in their lines of abutting sides aaand also lengthwise by their lines of inner corners a running relativelyoblique to their lines of exterior side 0?, and having the densehard-Wood laps c c in each strip extended in direction of its width fromone side thereof to the other in lines parallel to each other, andparallel to the line of extension of the outer lap in itscross-direction; the strips in the series being placed and rigidlysecured together in such a manner that the dense hard-wood laps c cexterior in each strip, are on equal tapering lines, in the finishedcue-stick, from its handle end to its tip, and the interior densehard-wood laps, in cross-direction and lengthwise are parallel to saidexterior lap; so as to produce in the cuestick about its axis a seriesof concentric hexagonal form of rigidly-connected dense hard Wood lapsto give the cue-stick the maximum stiffness, and also produce exteriorand all around, in the cue-sticks a dense-wood substance of likehardness and similar texture and uniformity of color, substantially asdescribed.

HARRY E. MERENESS, JR.

Witnesses:

ALEX. SELKIRK, HENRY E. MERENESS.

